Although many people think that Native Americans did not have keep records before their contact with Europeans, recent research has identified a variety of different ways in which people kept a record of significant events in their communities. On this page you can find information about the Lakota Winter counts, which are a series of records spanning several hundred 'winters' or years kept by specialist members of different Lakota Bands.
The Smithsonian Institution retains originals and copies of these counts. Winter counts consist of pictographs that represent or stand for a particular important event. As such they can only be read by people who know what these pictographs refer to. The Keeper of the Winter Count thus had to memorize the meaning of each of the images, as well as add new pictographs as time progressed. Each band of the Lakota appears to have had its own Winter Count Keeper, but Winter count keepers seem to have agreed among themselves which were the significant events to record, as different winter counts show similar or related pictograph for each year.
The Smithsonian Institution's Winter Count online exhibit provides detailed information as well as images of pictographs, names of Winter Count keepers, and additionally a short history/ethnography of the Lakota People. Below is a link to a webquest concerning winter counts, and other methods of measuring time that were once current in North America. You should review this webquest,to identify what information you need before proceeding to the Smithsonian Lakota Winter Count online exhibit.
Introduction
webquest 3 goes here
Native American Histories
Although many people think that Native Americans did not have keep records before their contact with Europeans, recent research has identified a variety of different ways in which people kept a record of significant events in their communities. On this page you can find information about the Lakota Winter counts, which are a series of records spanning several hundred 'winters' or years kept by specialist members of different Lakota Bands.
The Smithsonian Institution retains originals and copies of these counts. Winter counts consist of pictographs that represent or stand for a particular important event. As such they can only be read by people who know what these pictographs refer to. The Keeper of the Winter Count thus had to memorize the meaning of each of the images, as well as add new pictographs as time progressed. Each band of the Lakota appears to have had its own Winter Count Keeper, but Winter count keepers seem to have agreed among themselves which were the significant events to record, as different winter counts show similar or related pictograph for each year.
The Smithsonian Institution's Winter Count online exhibit provides detailed information as well as images of pictographs, names of Winter Count keepers, and additionally a short history/ethnography of the Lakota People. Below is a link to a webquest concerning winter counts, and other methods of measuring time that were once current in North America. You should review this webquest,to identify what information you need before proceeding to the Smithsonian Lakota Winter Count online exhibit.
Webquest/ Native American Record Keeping
Lakota Winter Counts at the SI
French and Indian Wars